The News...

[Sandy G]

I listen/go to sleep to "Coast to Coast AM". As most of you know, it is an overnite talk show that primarily deals w/"Off the Wall" type stuff-UFOs, Bigfoots, ESP, conspiracy theories, etc. They dutifully break approx every 15 minutes for commercials, & every 30 minutes for news. The news, which is delivered in my area by ABC Radio network, is repeated every 30 minutes all night long. And its by & large bullshit- 5 people killed in Afganistan by a roadside bomb, earthquake in Taiwan, aftershocks in Chile, politicos argy-bargying about healthcare-were ALL that was happening last nite, apparently. ALL night long. Who decides what "news" we get to hear, & by what criteria are the topics selected ? I'm sorry for those 5 wretches who got blown to smithereens in Afganistan, but honestly, it affects ME not a whit, & isn't there ANYTHING ELSE of more importance happening in the whole world that I MIGHT be a LITTLE more affected by ?!? And, OK, tell me about it once, twice maybe, but I kinda got the message...Now, go on to sumpin else...Even hearing for the umpteenth million time about how Shrub 'n' Karl Roadwhore are STILL manipulating the world price of oil on this magical computer that's in Shrub's office would be better than the idiotic, useless pap that's out there as it is...

[Charles]

Shrub's an oilman, didn't you know?

BTW, is Owl Gore still a major holder in Occidental?

Chas

[BlueStreak]

Leave any of the "cable" 24/7 news channels on all day. By noon-one o' clock you'll be tossin' your t.v. out the window. This is why I say 24/7 news, especially 24/7 political news is what's really ruining America. The constant repitition is driving us insane.

Regards,
Dave

[finnbow]

It's all about infotainment. The "news" nowadays on TV and Radio is more like "Inside Hollywood does current events." The masochist within me has me watching ABC Evening News with Diane Sawyer on occasion to see how far into the crapper news has fallen (and for some comic relief). Just watching her grimace, bob her head and sigh empathetically at every "story" is enough to make me hurl. That and the intro stating "From the worldwide resources of ABC news ..." make me wonder if this "news show" is being produced by a bunch of middle school valley girls.

[Sandy G]

...Oh, & they went on & on about how there were EIGHT PEOPLE HURT in the Stupendous Tragedy that is/was the Tie-One-On quake...So if I fly there, climb up on a soapbox somewhere, & ask all them Chingy-Pongs who was hurt, there'd be EXACTLY eight of the yellow swines to raise their paws ? (Assuming they still had paws to raise, of course.) I guess the Eight People Hurt story is the heart-wrenching Human Interest Angle-We're sposed to Relate 'n' feel empathy for 'em...But somebody effed up...They already ran their Human Interest blurb w/the 5 unfortunate Afgani towelheads who got blown to Kingdom Come....Tsk, tsk, tsk... Excuse my sarcasm, but its ALL so pap & packaged...Like that song "Dirty Laundry" said, "When its over, we haven't told you a thing..." Crap IS king....But the journalism majors I remember from college were almost all the biggest pot-heads, violent drunks, & partiers of 'em all...Made us frat boys look like pikers, they did...And I kinda figgered ever one of 'em would be dead by the time they were 35, from cirrosis of the liver, or the ulcers they'd surely get from their acidic, cynical personalities...

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Who decides what "news" we get to hear, & by what criteria are the topics selected ?

It's a more complicated question than you may imagine. There was a time when broadcasters considered anything called "news" an off limits island of journalism. They were making so much money elsewhere they could afford to give back to the community by supplying news. The FCC in fact mandates that broadcasters serve the public interest. News programs have always been touted as doing just this and justifying the licensing of public air waves for commercial interests.

But things got more complicated a while back. I can’t say exactly when it happened- before I got in the business, but at some point news programs became profit centers. I can tell you at many local TV stations, half their revenue comes from their late news. No, I’m not saying that wrong. The one half hour news program at 11:00 (or 10:00 Central or Mountain) accounts for 50% of their revenue.

As the business was changing, politics was becoming more and more divisive and people more and more vocal about what they perceived as “bias” in reporting. It comes from both sides (though it comes a lot more from the right). So we have a situation now where journalists are being used as profit centers and being told not to offend anyone. It’s difficult if not impossible to do quality journalism without offending anyone. There’s no intentional degradation of quality. Most journalists actually think they’re doing a pretty good job. But there is a net result. The actual journalism gets watered down.

By and large, people don’t care. They certainly don’t reward quality journalism. The “News Hour” still airs in every major market on a PBS station. But people do not watch in significant numbers. They vote with the remote every day. They would rather watch commercial news products that are built more as entertainment products than journalistic enterprise. Again, the news folks would disagree with that last statement, but I can tell you and you won’t be surprised to hear that decisions are made based on what will garner the best ratings.

As for repetition, they are keenly aware of audience flow. I’m not familiar with the program you’re talking about, but my guess is that most people don’t listen for the amount of time you do. So they repeat the “important” stories. If they don’t, someone who tunes in later than you do gets something other than the “most important” stories and may say “that’s a poor job of covering the news.”

Shoot, even what I just said isn’t completely accurate. The program you listen to sounds like a syndicated product. They buy it and program it based on cost and ability to generate revenue relative to everything else that’s available at that time. The news is part of a network deal. A way to get some news on the station without paying any journalists. You’re kind of running into the two of them where they meet. They almost certainly were never designed to work together. The Syndicated show formats news breaks, and the station has to fill them, so they use the inexpensive network service.

I can tell you this, as tough as it is for television right now, it’s double tough for radio. Don’t get me started on newspapers, they are going out of business. Just hope that’s not a look in the crystal ball for me. It’s tough times with the internet, cable, satellite, MP3s, instant downloads and such. Traditional broadcasting is literally being redesigned from the ground up. It’s fair to say we haven’t found a level yet. We’ll get there, but things may be very different than they are now.

Ug, sorry for another novel

[merrylander]

People get their news from the Internet these days, the problem is that it is 93% BS.

[westgate]

well, FWIW, right now on at least fnc and msnbc, they're having a great police/perp car chase in the 'police car chase center' of america, L.A. kalifornia!

i just love watching these chases, a nice respite from the usual political b.s. on any of those channels.

oh, oh, they all went into the tunnel under LAX and no one's come out the other side yet. chopper pilots obviously can't get in there. hmmm...

[Sandy G]

Another thing that chaps me is how the News Establishment gloms on to a story-Typically, it's about some dreadful thing that has befallen an insufferably cute child-The cuter, the better-And that's ALL you hear for weeks, sometimes months, until the poor kid's body is found, and/or the Dastardly Fiend has been apprehended. I mean, yeah, I'm sorry it happened, & I'd LOVE to have 5 minutes alone w/Dastardly Fiend-But I find myself yelling at the TV to just, for the love of God, GIVE IT A FECKIN' REST....I mean, I don't mean to sound cold & callous, but after awhile, I REALLY DON'T CARE...No, don't put me in the cell w/the Dastardly Fiend...Put me 'n' a baseball bat in the offices of the producers, writers, directors, et al, who spew forth this nonsense garbage at us, who decide that THIS shyte is all we're gonna hear as long as the almighty ratings will carry it....Grrrrrr....Is the value of a child's life reduced to the level of how many cartons of soap his/her rape & evisceration will ultimately sell ? If it is, God help us...Send in the Klingons, Romulans, or the Borg NOW, & I hope they destroy us soon...

[rickr15]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Another thing that chaps me is how the News Establishment gloms on to a story-Typically, it's about some dreadful thing that has befallen an insufferably cute child-The cuter, the better-And that's ALL you hear for weeks, sometimes months, until the poor kid's body is found, and/or the Dastardly Fiend has been apprehended. I mean, yeah, I'm sorry it happened, & I'd LOVE to have 5 minutes alone w/Dastardly Fiend-But I find myself yelling at the TV to just, for the love of God, GIVE IT A FECKIN' REST....I mean, I don't mean to sound cold & callous, but after awhile, I REALLY DON'T CARE...No, don't put me in the cell w/the Dastardly Fiend...Put me 'n' a baseball bat in the offices of the producers, writers, directors, et al, who spew forth this nonsense garbage at us, who decide that THIS shyte is all we're gonna hear as long as the almighty ratings will carry it....Grrrrrr....Is the value of a child's life reduced to the level of how many cartons of soap his/her rape & evisceration will ultimately sell ? If it is, God help us...Send in the Klingons, Romulans, or the Borg NOW, & I hope they destroy us soon...

Oddly enough this only transpires if its a cute cuddly white kid. Thousands of kids dissapear every year and you don't hear a peep.


FWIW I stopped calling it news years ago. As Eddie stated earlier its entertainment for profit. Cronkite must be rolling in his grave.